


Candlenights in July

by Voyaelm



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Candlenights, Canon Compliant, Comfort, F/F, Family, Gen, Happy Ending, I'm Bad At Tagging, Platonic Cuddling, Post-Canon, Self Depreciating Thoughts, Spoilers for Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, a small bit of angst, very wholesome and cute tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25560850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voyaelm/pseuds/Voyaelm
Summary: It feels so weird. Lucretia isn’t sure she’ll ever get used to being so soft spoken and terse to the people she’s known for longer than a lifetime. She completely got over her general skittishness and ‘professional relationships only’ attitude after the first couple cycles, deciding instead to open up her sarcastic and joking side.Hiding that again out of fear of shifting the already teetering balance of their relationship creates a lump in her throat that she can’t swallow.
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans/Lup, The Director | Lucretia & Lup, The Director | Lucretia/Lup, non romantic - Relationship
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Candlenights in July

**Author's Note:**

> Over my extended hiatus from TAZ fics, I developed a love for Lupcretia. I honestly can’t explain it, but they have a hella good dynamic. So expect some more shippy stuff with them from me! This fic tho was more of an exploration of their friendship and isn’t technically romantic bc Lup and Barry are dating in this one. (Also despite the title, this is set in winter. I just didn't feel like waiting until then to post this)  
> -  
> Hope you enjoy!

“Lucretia’s coming to the party tonight.”

“No the fuck she’s not.”

“Okay.” Lup keeps stirring the batter for her brownies, dipping the end of her pinky finger into the batter to taste it. She doesn’t pay much mind to Taako as she dumps more cocoa powder into the mixing bowl. 

Taako’s eyes shoot open.  _ That was easy. _

“I understand that you’re mad at her and that she isn’t welcome in your house.” Taako is about to agree with her, but she interrupts him before he can open his mouth. “But, Lucretia is welcome in _my_ house. Which is where we’re having the Candlenights Eve party this year, right?”

“I...Yea.” Taako confirms begrudgingly. 

“So she’ll be at my house for the party. If you have an issue with that, you don’t need to come.” Taako outright gapes at her, mouth wide enough for her to throw a handful of walnuts into, which she thinks about doing for a minute. “What’s so shocking, Taako?”

“Just listen to what you’re saying!”

“Is what I’m saying so outlandish?”

“Yes!” Taako exclaims. He waits for Lup to start arguing with him, but she doesn’t. That makes him pause, probably considering something stupid he can say to convince her to not have Lucertia over. “What does Barry think of this, huh? Have you even asked him if he’s okay with having her over?!”

Bingo.

Lup’s eyes go cold. Taako shudders. “Barry is  _ not _ the boss of me.”

Taako’s never been one to back down easily when he’s been proven wrong. For Lup, though, he crosses his arms and walks out of the kitchen without another word. 

_ Oh well _ , Lup thinks. They’ll both be done being mad at each other by tomorrow. 

* * *

Lup was sure to tell Lucretia that there weren’t going to be a lot of people. At most, it's the two of them, Barry, Magnus, and maybe Taako, Kravitz, and Angus - with  _ lots _ of emphasis on maybe. Lucretia was downtrodden to hear that Davenport and Merle wouldn’t be joining them, but she couldn’t really complain. The majority of her family would be here, in one place, tonight. 

Lucretia kicks the snow off her boots on the welcome mat before slipping them off. Snow isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but it is fun to look at and it makes Candlenights seem more like Candlenights. 

Lup pulls her further into their living room, and grabs Magnus’ attention with a playful kick in the shin. 

Magnus, who is splayed out across the couch and obviously sloshed, offers her a drunken wave. She returns the gesture with a bit more grace. Once he decides to get up, she’s sure she’ll be the recipient of one of his famous bear hugs. Not that she’d be mad, of course.

“Barry!” Lup calls towards what appears to be the kitchen, “Lucretia’s here!”

He doesn’t miss a beat in peeking out from around the door frame and greeting her with a huge grin. “Just finishing some stuff up in here and then I’ll be out to say ‘Hi’.”

“You’re letting him man the kitchen?” 

“Yeah, I’m giving him a chance to redeem himself after ruining dinner last week.” Lup gives Lucretia a little run down of how Barry managed to both under  _ and _ over cook their pasta as well as burn their sauce. “But he’s just stirring and doing dishes tonight because, frankly, I can’t be bothered to clean up whatever mess he may or may not make.”

“I do not blame you.” Lup sticks out her tongue. 

True to his word, it only takes a minute or two for Barry to finish up and come out. He’s wiping his wet hands down on his jeans just before he reaches up to hug her. His hands are warm as they pat her on the back a few times. Lucretia, emboldened by Barry, squeezes him tight. He groans, but squeezes her just as tight.

“Missed you, Lucretia. I’m glad you could make it.”

“I’m glad I could as well. It’s… very nice to see you all again.” They pull away with smiles on their faces, and Lup presses herself against Lucretia’s side. 

“Here, Luce. Lemme take your coat and put it away.” Lucretia does as requested and shimmies out of her coat and hands it to Lup, who disappears around a corner with it.

Lucretia watches Barry walk back into the kitchen, still feeling his residual warmth. She relishes in it until she hears a small, excited voice. 

“Madame Director!” Lucretia turns her head and is shocked to see Angus running towards her for a hug. She smiles regardless, leaning down to catch him. 

“It’s nice to see you again, Angus.” She pats his back. “And you can call me Lucretia, dear.”

Lucretia lifts her head at the sound of someone clearing their throat, and her eyes widen when she sees Taako standing in front of her wearing a large coat and a thin frown. The look in his eyes screams ‘keep your hands off of him’; but Angus continues to squeeze her, completely oblivious to Taako’s death stare. 

“Oh!” Lup says from behind her - she must’ve finished taking care of her coat. “Koko made it!” She sidesteps Lucretia and Angus to pull Taako into a big hug. 

“Ack! Yeah I made it, calm down.”

He whispers something in Elvish to her and she smiles. Elvish is indeed one of the eight languages Lucretia’s fluent in, but she chooses not to hear their hushed words. They obviously didn’t want others hearing them.

Lucretia stands after breaking the hug, letting Angus find someone else to wrap his arms around. Probably either Barry or Magnus.

And Lup had apparently moved to pull Kravitz into a very strong bear hug.

Which leaves her face to face with Taako. 

To her absolute shock, he leans in and wraps his arms around her shoulders. Just the idea is enough to nearly bring her to tears.But she’s able to hold it all in. 

She’s just about to apologize. To try to defend and justify herself and her actions. But she isn't even able to open her mouth before:

“I’m only here and doing this to make Lup happy, so don’t think for a damn second that I forgive you.” Taako whispers to her, just barely audible. Her heart dips.

“Of course, Taako.” That’s all she manages to say with a steady voice. He pulls away from her with a grimace and immediately walks toward the kitchen. 

Lucretia turns around and sinks back into the armchair directly behind her. She wraps her arms around herself in comfort.  _ Why did I think that would go well? Why did I think Taako would’ve been civil and not say anything to me? Why- _

She’s roused from her depreciating thoughts by a soft kick against her ankle. When she turns her face up, she sees Lup. The concern on her face is palpable. Her lips and brows are pulled down, and her ears are perked towards her in worry. 

Thankfully, she doesn’t make a big deal out of it. Lucretia isn’t sure she could handle having Lup make a scene over her. She just asks Lucertia to: “Scooch your butt, I wanna sit with you.”

It’s not until Lup is sitting beside her that she realizes she was shaking. She’s not sure why she’s so shaken up. It’s been years since she’s had this nervous energy buzzing inside her. 

Out of pure instinct and muscle memory, she reaches out and takes Lup’s hand. Instead of pushing her away, Lup squeezes her hand back in a comforting gesture. Of course she wouldn’t push her away. Lup knew her so well. 

“How have things been going on the moon, Lucretia?” Kravitz suddenly asks, breaking the invisible tension.

“Oh,” Lucretia pauses, taking just a second to come back to herself. “They’ve been going well. A few close colleagues and I are working on repairing the Bureau before we move onto more public works projects. Repairing the world, and all that.” 

“Well, I’m certainly excited to see what you can come up with.”

Lucretia thanks him with a light flush to her cheeks. She’s not used to people being so nice to her. 

Lup, Kravitz, and Magnus start a small side conversation that Lucertia occasionally will jump into with a joke, or a clarification.  _ Especially  _ when Magnus and Lup start trying to convince Kravitz of some fantastical thing that happened on their mission - no, Magnus. There was never a 6 headed octopus; where do you come up with this stuff?

A little while after their conversation, where Lup is resting her head on Lucretia’s shoulder and watching the fireplace crackle with bright eyes, Barry steps into eyeshot and asks if anyone wants a drink. 

Magnus shouts for another beer even though he’s less than two feet from Barry. He just chuckles and acknowledges his request. “And anything for you two ladies?” 

“Hmmm, I want some hot cocoa.” Lup says, linking her arm with Lucretia’s while giving Barry a big, cheesy grin. He returns it. 

“How about you Lucretia?” For some reason, Lucretia wasn’t expecting him to address her directly. She swallows and replies as steady as she can muster. 

“I- I’ll take some tea. Thank you.” Her eyes dart between Lup and Barry, keeping most of the contact on Lup. She still can’t really look Barry in the eyes.

“Gotcha. It’ll be right out.”

It feels so  _ weird. _ Lucretia isn’t sure she’ll ever get used to being so soft spoken and terse to the people she’s known for longer than a lifetime. She completely got over her general skittishness and ‘professional relationships only’ attitude after the first couple cycles, deciding instead to open up her sarcastic and joking side. 

Hiding that again out of fear of shifting the already teetering balance of their relationship creates a lump in her throat that she can’t swallow.

A few minutes later, Barry comes out with arms full of drinks. He hands a small pint of beer to Magnus, and gives Lup their mugs with a chaste kiss.

It’s nice to see that they’re as in love as ever. If she tries hard enough, she can almost imagine the two of them sitting on the couch in the living area of the Starblaster; cuddled up in each other’s warmth, soft smiles on their faces…

Lucretia shakes her head. That’s none of her business. She just takes the mug that Lup is incessantly shoving in her direction. 

She tears up when she tastes her tea. Perfectly heated, no sugar, a hint of lemon. Exactly how she’s always taken it. 

He  _ remembered _ . He put in the effort to make it exactly how she likes it when he could’ve just brewed some without said effort. He still cares about her. He still loves her.

“Good?” Lup asks.

“Amazing.” And in her peripherals, she sees Barry smile at her before retreating back into the kitchen. 

She settles back into her spot, gently sipping and savoring her tea. It’s the most delicious thing she’s drank in years. Maybe it’s just the fact it was prepared by a member of her ~~broken~~ family, or maybe it just  _ is _ that good. Barry did learn from the best of ‘em, after all. 

Lucretia watches Lup take a gulp of her hot chocolate. Her hand then comes to cover her mouth; and she, to Lucretia’s surprise, lets out a small growl. 

“YOU PUT ALCOHOL IN HERE, YOU BASTARD!” Taako lets out a bark of laughter from the kitchen. It makes Lucretia giggle behind her hand. Lup looks over to her, smiles, and stage whispers, “Jokes on them. Now I get to get drunk and they can’t complain about how rowdy I get later tonight.”

* * *

Dinner officially starts 20 minutes later.

It’s obviously not as fancy as a full Candlenights dinner would be, but it’s still quite extravagant. 

There’s a big ham, multiple sides, and a large pile of brownies to Lucertia’s left that looks particularly tempting. 

She serves herself after Lup does, grabbing whatever utensils Lup hands off to get food. Grabbing food was always difficult during their years on the Starblaster. Sometimes, they could bicker for 10 minutes. By the time those arguments were over, the food was cold. Lucretia smiles with nostalgia. This is just similar enough to make her reminiscent and not sad. 

The two of them then properly take their seats. Lup sits in between Lucretia and Taako, so Taako doesn’t have to interact with her. Barry is sitting across from Lup and sitting between Magnus and Angus. Lucertia assumes Kravtiz is sitting beside Taako, but she can’t see him. 

Once everyone settles down, they start eating. Lucretia takes her first bite, a mix of potatoes and ham, and her eyes water. 

She’s forgotten just how delicious food could be. It had been years since she’d had something so good, and it had been over a decade since she'd had a meal prepared by either of the twins let alone both of them. So she savors each and every bite, staying to herself and allowing the others to chat without restraint. Lup will prompt her occasionally, but she keeps her responses short yet topical. One of her small jokes pulls a chuckle out of Taako, and it feels like she's just hit cloud nine.

She finishes her plate just after Lup does and reaches for a brownie. Lup taps her shoulder and holds a hand out expectantly. Lucretia laughs, handing Lup the brownie she had just grabbed and taking another one. 

These are just as good as dinner was. She’d have to ask Lup to make these again for her sometime. 

* * *

At the end of the night, Lup tears open a rift and motions Lucretia through it.

“God I’ll never get over how damn useful these rifts are.”

“I feel like this isn’t their intended purpose.”

“Oh, of course not. Bone boy  _ hates _ it when I do this.”

They end up in Lucretia’s office. Thankfully, Lup had the forethought to bypass all the over-the-top Candlenights greetings seeing as it’s far past midnight. 

She lays a kiss on Lucretia’s forehead with a gentle smile.

“Call me in a few days. I’ll come up and help with some of the rebuilding.”

“Lup you didn’t- You don’t have to-“ Lucretia doesn’t know if she’s trying to deny Lup’s  _ kissing  _ her or trying to deny Lup's help.

“I said I was going to, didn't I?” Lup flips her bangs out of her face. “I don’t make promises that I don’t intend to keep.”

Lucretia sighs. “No, I suppose you don’t.” Lup’s chuckle draws one out of Lucretia as well. 

After a little more pointless banter, Lup sees herself out through the same rift they came from, leaving Lucretia alone in her office.

She sighs, takes a minute to come to terms with and rationalize everything that happened today before heading towards her quarters. 

When she closes the large vault door separating the hallway and her room, the first thing she notices is the fact that her desk lamp is on. Lucretia scowls. She doesn’t remember leaving that on. As she walks over to her desk, she sees something that makes her head tilt.

Wrapped in a few thin threads of twine are a set of leather bound journals with blue trims and a few brand new pens. Someone must’ve slipped into her quarters and left these here. She’s partially flattered, partially pissed off that someone invaded her personal space.

There’s a clean, handwritten note attached to the top of the bundle. Lucretia reads it. 

_ Honestly, I probably could’ve gotten you something a lot more meaningful, but I thought this would be practical. So use these as diaries to sort out all the wack feelings you’ve got going on in the big beautiful noggin’ of yours. Happy Candlenights! _

_ Love, Lup  _

All of her pseudo anger falls away once she reads the closing. Lup. And just like that, for the first time tonight, Lucretia cries. 

It’s not a lot of tears at all; only enough to barely wet her upper cheeks. She’s just shocked that this is the only time she’s cried this evening. Between Lup and Barry’s kindness, Taako’s willingness to be in the same room with her - even if it  _ was _ strained and forced - and now this? She should’ve been crying the whole night. But, she can handle this. Things are getting better, easier.

She undoes the twine and immediately takes a journal and a pen over to her desk to start the first entry. 

**Author's Note:**

> Plz talk to me in the comments about Lupcretia and gimme ideas for them, I love them so much.  
> -  
> Thank you for reading! <3 Let me know if you liked it! I also take requests for TAZ fics/drabbles if you wanna see something specific


End file.
